Executive Summary

CC Industries is a leading financial management and advisory company in the United States and has a satellite office in London, United Kingdom. We offer broad range of services to clients in the private and small businesses, institutions, and large corporations. CC Industries intend on extending businesses to South Africa, Sweden, and Venezuela. The possible targets in these countries are Foerening Sparbanken, Ericsson, Volvo, Hennes & Maurittz, Saambou holdings, Momentum life Assurance, Fidelity bank holdings, Commercial Finance Company, Mercantil Services Fin, International Briquettes holdings, Cisnerous Group of Companies and, Corimon, C.A. We will dispatch both female and male executives to these countries to foresee our business plans, set up the business and train employees. CC Industries prepared an in depth S.W.O.T analysis to determine our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to save guard against failure (Kotabe & Helsen, 2004). We recommend that our clients assign a senior management position in each country during the new venture. These personnel will be responsible for training local management and develop goals and objectives for the company. CC Industries will form a partnership with Paychex who has a strong background in payroll processing, employee access online, and, expense reporting. We would then have the capability of working against our main competitor ADP. We have developed a marketing plan to help in the expansion of our products and services. In terms of cost setting CC Industries will use performance based payment as the primary source of revenue from new customers for the first two years of implementation of the business venture until CC brands are well established in the new countries. Our advertising strategy will involve extensive billboard and television campaigns, coupled with visual materials like pamphlets, and newspaper inserts.

Situational Analysis

- CC Industries was founded in 1971 by Charles Charter
- Currently employs 9,000 people globally
- CC Industries is one of the United States leading financial management and advisory companies, with 15 offices throughout the country and one satellite location in London, UK
- CC Industries offers a broad range of services to all their clients including private industries, small businesses, institutions, and large corporations.

Mission

Our mission is to provide personalized, relationship-oriented service to our customers. We strive to create valuable changes to our customers’ business practices. We are devoted to being the best financial service provider to medium and large sized companies in our domestic markets as well as globally. Our success depends upon a highly motivated workforce who is committed to creating an efficient and effective work environment. Our strength is people; our product is improved financial management.

Brief Overview of Each Country

Sweden

Sweden’s population grew at a rate of 0.01% between 1980 and 1985. In Sweden, women make up 48% of the work force. Therefore, we make sure that we employee women to train and consult with our customers in Sweden. Sweden has a highly valued educational system with a literacy rate of 99%, so we know our targeted customers will not have any difficulty comprehending our training manuals.

While doing business in Sweden, our client employees must be mindful and respectful of Sweden’s business customs and practices.

- Punctuality, appointments and local time are valued and respected by the Swedes
- Be on time for all business and social appointments
- Appointments should be made two weeks in advance
- Swedes are very formal in the negotiation process
- Most Swedes consider humor inappropriate in business settings.
- Swedes rarely express strong emotions in public, and certainly not in a business environment. They will react negatively to a foreigner who displays strong feelings. For example, “I’m so happy to be here”
- Business entertaining is kept very formal
- Business lunches and dinners are quite popular
• Make reservations far in advance. Formal restaurants are recommended for business meals
- Business breakfasts are becoming more common
- It is not uncommon for business women to pick up the check in Sweden, especially if they are on an expense account

There is going to be little difficulty in communicating and interacting with the Swedish staff, as they are familiar and quite fluent in English however, we will require that our staff is bilingual in Swedish and English.

Veneuzela

Venezuela has a population of 26,500,000. Its primary race is Spanish but consists of various ethnic groups; Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African, and various indigenous people. Although the population consists of various ethnic groups, the primary and official language is Spanish. Venezuela has a labor force of 12.3MM. Traditionally, men were head of the household but roles are changing and more women are entering the workplace. We do not foresee a problem sending women to train but we will ensure that we send sufficient men to undertake any leadership roles required. Much like Sweden, staff should be bilingual in both English and Spanish.

While doing business in Venezuela, our client employees must be mindful and respectful of Venezuela’s business customs and practices.

- Power flows from the top down
- Upper management expects its employees to comply
- Public disagreements are interpreted as poor leadership
- Avoid dominating the conversation / pressuring decisions
- Older business people prefer to get to know the people they are engaging in business with and will respond to one person rather than the company or company proposal
- Younger business people are typically educated abroad and adapt easily to foreign business practices
- Venezuelans tend to be prompt; foreigners are expected to be on time - it is better to be a few minutes early than a few minutes late
- Avoid scheduling meetings 2 – 3 days before or after a holiday
- Do not change your business partners during the negotiation process
- All correspondence should be translated into Spanish and followed up with a telephone call
- Do not mention attorney’s until the negotiation process has been finalized
- Avoid discussing topics relating to government, personal relationships, and comparing your country’s policies to those in Venezuela
- Visitors should have some knowledge of Venezuelan history and cultural achievements
- Business cards should be distributed after introductions; they should be printed in English & Spanish; job title should be clearly identified as Venezuelans are status conscious and want to know your position within the company
- Venezuelans are open to communicating via conference calls, emails, web conferences, etc.

Venezuelans are status conscious, their leadership style is authoritarian, and decisions are made from the top and filter down. They have rigid and uncompromising business practices focusing on promptness, negotiating styles, and business entertainment. They take few business risks and are governed by written rules. They are structured around a collectivist society believing in cooperation and considering the family first before making decisions.

South Africa

South Africa is a key area to do business, as it is an emerging market; its stock exchange ranks in the top 20 in the world. It has a modern infrastructure, strong political system, and strong communication system. South Africa has a strong educational system with an 86% literacy rate. In addition, it has a growing rate of postgraduate students. It is the largest economy in Africa; 24th largest in the world with eleven official languages. South Africa also has a large population consisting of 47.9MM people. We will market in the areas where business officials are fluent in English as 57% of South Africans speak English, however staff will be required to know at least one other South African language such as Afrikaans, Zulu or Xhosa.

While doing business in South Africa, our client employees must be mindful and respectful of South Africa’s business customs and practices.

- White South Africans usually begin talking about business after a brief social exchange
- South Africans of other races may spend more time on small talk. They will take more time getting to know each other
- White South Africans may be very concerned that foreigners may try to take advantage of them
- High pressure and strong emotions have little place in dealings with White South Africans. Most would prefer a deal fall through than be rushed
- Negotiations may be more aggressive
- Although South African executives usually arise early enough to attend a breakfast meeting, business breakfasts are relatively uncommon.
- Business meetings can be held over lunch or dinner
- Good topics of conversations are sports, outdoor recreation, travel, food, and music
- Rugby is the most popular sport team, be sure not to say anything derogatory about the sport
- Among the English and Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, the order of names is the same in most countries; first name followed by surname.
- The foot is considered unclean, therefore, do not move anything or touch anyone with your feet
- Do not show the soles of your feet
- Dress attire is business casual; businessmen are expected to wear a coat and tie

South Africa is a male-dominated society. While foreign businesspersons are usually accepted, they may be referred to as “girls.” This can happen to any woman, regardless of age and/or job title. It will probably be in our best interest to send more men than women to execute the new business plan and train employees.

S.W.O.T Analysis

In order to ensure our success and limit our failure here at CC Industries we have prepared an in depth S.W.O.T analysis. During this exercise, we were able to distinguish between what our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will be for each country (Kotabe & Helsen, 2004). Listed below is a table, which illustrates our findings.

South Africa

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Sweden

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Venezuela

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Due to the cultural differences there has to be organizational structure across the board so our clients can be successful with this new project. We recommend that our clients consider assigning a senior manager to each country during the new venture in order to oversee the process. This would be done in order to train local management and develop goals and objectives for the company. This would also be done in order to troubleshoot any problems, implement changes and to have an individual who can act as an intermediary. Further training would also be offered. There must be strategies and tactics in place to pursue a successful alliance. Therefore, we would recommend our clients pursue building relationships regardless of the individualistic and collectivistic culture, foster a willingness to work together, share ideas, and balance ownership.